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October 16, 2007

ALCS 4: Spiders 7, Red Sox 3

Then Blake banged a solo dong and about an hour later, it seemed, Cleveland had sent 12 men to the plate against Wake and MDC, scoring seven runs on seven hits.

The Red Sox charged right back -- making ALCS history when Youkilis, Ortiz and Ramirez hit back-to-back-to-back home runs. But that was it for the bats. The Red Sox managed only one more base runner in the final three+ innings -- and he was erased within two pitches on a double play.

Off-day Wednesday and then it's Beckett/CC on Thursday.

All we got to do is win three games. ... Last two at home, with Andrew Daisuke bringing the MFing hammer.

Let them stoke their fires and crank their music and point at us and laugh as we were forced to the back of the bus. We sat and watched and observed and absorbed and kept quiet. And when the time was right ...

One game away from elimination? F@#k that noise. We prefer to think of you guys as three games away from elimination.

***

Tim Wakefield / Paul Byrd

Wakefield has not pitched in a game since September 29, although he did toss a 77-pitch simulated game last Tuesday.

We haven't had our backs against the wall all year, until now, because during all that panic stuff about the division at the end of the [regular season], we were never in danger of missing the playoffs. We're down, 2-1. I think this is our first true character test, given our lead all year.

Zero. ... This is a do-or-die situation. I've got to put whatever behind me. If I keep thinking about my knee, my knee, my knee, it's only going to make it worse. We don't have that much room that we can be thinking about it. ... Unless I can't get out of my bed, I've got to keep on playing.

In addition to a strong start from Wakefield, the bats need to show up. Half the lineup is still in a trance: Varitek and Pedroia are both 4-for 25 in the post-season and Drew is 5-for-22. Against Cleveland, Julio Lugo is 2-for-11 and Crisp 3-for 12.

Damn, wasn't it just a few days ago this team looked like it was set to steamroll through the playoffs? Varitek will sit tonight in favour of Doug Mirabelli, who hasn't had an at-bat since September 30 and only 10 ABs since August 17.

So we need bats and six good innings from Timmeh, then we have Beckett and Schilling kicking off a best 2-of-3 with the last two games at home. I like the sound of that, so ...

RS - that is a GREAT job of spotting a numbnuts moment!I remembered he played RF as soon as you said it, and thought "Way to show your stupidity", but I would probably have never come up with it on my own!That's why we follow :)

SHIT!You just had to wonder how much longer it could go!It shouldn't matter because our offense should have him sporting a 2 or 3 run lead.If this damn ofense doesn't hold him up, as well as he's pitching, I'm gonna FIRE somebody!

I was this close < > to turning off the TV for a few minutes (one of my little hissy fit things I do before turning the TV back on) but instead I opened up my book so I can study for a few minutes, and now I'm just peering over the top of my book from time to time hoping we get out of this.

PAUL BYRD IS PITCHING A SHUTOUT!!!!!PAUL BYRD IS PITCHING A SHUTOUT!!!!!PAUL BYRD IS PITCHING A SHUTOUT!!!!!PAUL BYRD IS PITCHING A SHUTOUT!!!!!PAUL BYRD IS PITCHING A SHUTOUT!!!!!PAUL BYRD IS PITCHING A SHUTOUT!!!!!

Sometimes, I wish I only followed one team because following several can lead to continuous kicks in the groin. Other times, I'm happy because it allows me to move on when something $#!tty happens. But it's gonna take me a long time to forget this MELTDOWN if things remain as is.

I don't think anyone on that team lacks motivation or the desire to win. Sometimes you just don't get the breaks, sometime the other team just outplays you. I find it really unfair to condemn the team or the manager in that way, Colin.

So...what happened to the best pitching staff in the MLB these past three games?

A lot of pressure gets taken off when your team has scored some runs. You pitch differently. You pitch with more confidence. Your manager doesn't need to go to the bullpen so quickly, and the game doesn't get away so quickly.

And no I'm not going to be the optimistic fan when my team is not showing the stuff to be optimistic about. I still have some hope but I'm not getting way ahead of myself, especially when they're smashing our first reliever!

Apparently they decided to put all their eggs in the one basket known as Beckett and clearly show up to the ALCS with their B-game.

Like I was saying, after he pitches a CG SHO tomorrow, we can get him to go on short rest for game 6 (hes BETTER on short rest!!!!! havent you heard!) then he can have surgery to beef up his arm for a game 7 relief appearance to toss 7 innings and seal the win!

And I don't find it unfair to condemn the team/manager. If they wanna swing at the first pitch all the time and ruin a potential run go right ahead. I'm upset Wake got pounded like that after doing so well but I'm just absolutely getting discouraged with all these potential kick-ass moments we're blowing.

"Yeah, if they can score 7 in one inning, we can score 28 in the next four."

Yup. I'm always amazed at how after one team has a big inning, the announcers (and apparently many so-called fans) act like it can never be done again. I'm like, hey, you just SAW a team score 7 runs in an inning. So you know it can happen, right?